January 24 • 2019 5
jn

W

hat’
s the difference between 
a national park during the 
government shutdown and 
a dresser drawer filled with rows of 
meticulously roll-folded T-shirts?
One is a picture of 
human fallibility, the 
precarious nature of 
our social contract, 
the conspicuous con-
sumption of disposable 
goods and the nega-
tive consequences of 
under-regulation and 
over-production. 
The other is probably out of toilet 
paper.
These interrelated images from 
these first weeks of 2019 — spritely 
Marie Kondo bringing her popular 
joy-through-tidying method to untold 
American households through Netflix 
and litter-laden national parks — are 
a Rorschach test for how narrowly 
or broadly we view our relationships 
with and impact on the environment 
around us.
Is it disconcerting to see a scenic 
vista with paper goods and plasticware 
flowing out of a garbage can like so 
much molten lava? Spork yeah, it is. 
And are my T-shirts now folded 
and arranged so the prints smile up at 
me each morning? They don’
t call me 
World’
s Best Grandpa for nothing.
But like an invasive species in a deli-
cate ecosystem, more than 100 million 
pounds of waste still materialize in our 
national parks annually, even when 
federal park employees are there to 
ferry it away at regular intervals. 
And to get to Kondo-caliber 
tidiness, most of us have to shed a 
mound/mountain of shirts that just 
might get a new lease of life as paint-
ers’
 rags (50-lb. box, $42.50 from ERC 
Wiping Products … “We make wiping 
easy!”) and that create a vacuum beg-
ging to be filled by the next round of 
joy-inducing fan gear and fast fashion.
It’
s abundantly clear that we can’
t 
rely on our current crop of elected 
officials and CEOs to make any kind 
of strategic, sustainable decisions up 
river. Which makes it incumbent upon 
us to do whatever we can to manage 
and mitigate what flows downstream.
We can’
t just ask ourselves of an 
object, “Does it spark joy?” We need to 

struggle with whether it causes others 
pain, even if the sweatshop, slaughter-
house, refinery, landfill or incinerator 
is not in our backyard — or on our 
continent.
The struggle is real. I’
m struggling. 
The struggle of trading disposability 
for durability, the struggle of carpool-
ing, the struggle of how delicious meat 
is.
But there’
s strength in the struggle. 
I’
m not suggesting that we all become 
hemp-clad vegan wind turbines. We 
live in a consumer-driven economy 
with many varieties of Oreo and our 
ancestors labored day in and day out 
with only one variety of Oreo so we 
could have a better life.
In the struggle, there’
s a striving 
to innovate. Consider StockX. If you 
don’
t traffic in sought-after sneakers, 
streetwear, watches or handbags, you 
may not be familiar with the Detroit-
based “Stock Market of Things.” It has 
catapulted to global repute by confi-
dently connecting the supply of and 
demand for niche products.
Like StockX, our problem begins 
where the market ends. The price I 
pay for gas includes taxes for road 
maintenance (theoretically), but not 
for inhalers for asthmatic children in 
Southwest Detroit. Nor is the environ-
mental impact of my Styrofoam cup 
imputed into the price Dart charges 
Tropical Smoothie Cafe or what they 
charge me.
Enter SchlockX. SchlockX.com 
is not an evironmonumental cli-
mate-change-changing killer app. At 
least not yet. To start, maybe it can be 
a space where people like us, who care 
about the environment — but some-
times want to order via the app rather 
than bring our reusable cup to every 
newly opened Tropical Smoothie Cafe 
— can come together to deal with our 
schlock …

SOCRRA, South Oakland 
County’
s recycling center, is my 
Graceland — much like the fair’
s 
detritus is a veritable smorgas-
bord-orgasbord-orgasbord for 
Templeton in my favorite and the 
most important scene of Charlotte’
s 
Web. 
SOCRRA rocks. Nationally, con-
tamination sends an average of 25 
percent of single-stream recycling 
contents to the landfill; SOCRRA’
s 
goal is 5 percent. And they have a 
whimsical app, Waste Wizard, who 
will let you know with the wave of 
his wand, what is recyclable and 
how: socrra.org/waste-wizard.
 There is a physical and psycho-
logical distance between the ease of 
carting your recyclables to the curb 
and the effort of getting yourself and 
your stuff to your local drop-off cen-
ter. But even a beautiful, brimming 
bin misses out on some important 
ecopportunities. 
SOCRRA, along with most materi-
als recovery facilities (MRFs!), can’
t 
process Styrofoam, plastic bags or 
scrap metal on the same conveyor 
belts as all our boxes, bottles, etc. 
Enter SchlockX so we can have 
our smoothies and drink them, too.
Here’
s my very real offer: I will 
schlep your schlock. Fill out the 
form on the very real website and 
I will come to your house, pick up 
whatever the Waste Wizard says can 
be dropped off at the center and 
truck it to Troy. No charge, though I 
accept virtually all varieties of Oreo.
Here’
s the very reasonable catch: 
We need a critical mass of Schlock 
Blockers to make this sustainable, so 
recruit some neighbors to get in on 
the action. 
Shimmy to schlockX.com and let’
s 
spark some joy in this untidy world. ■ 

views

jewfro
SchlockX

Ben Falik

My Story
My Story

Click. Call. Give Now. 
www.hfldetroit.org • 248.723.8184

Hebrew Free Loan Detroit

6735 Telegraph Road, Suite 300 • Bloomfield Hills, MI 48301

@HFLDetroit

Hebrew Free Loan entered Joel
Hechler’s life through word of
mouth from friends.
“Where I lived a few years ago,
the neighbors regularly socialized
with each other,” Joel said, “and
we remained friends even as our
families grew and we moved away.
So when I heard about HFL from
two of those friends, who were
then active members of the agency’s
Board, it had my attention. I have a
background in accounting, and I
really liked the idea of helping people
get back on track.”
Joel looked into HFL, made
donations and eventually joined
the agency’s Board. “I find this so
fulfilling,” Joel said, “and I enjoy
leveraging my financial acumen to
directly help people. I say directly
because I’m working with a team
of really dedicated Board members
to help people we actually meet.
This isn’t in the abstract, it’s our
community.”
Joel also appreciates that HFL
has loan funds and programs for
so many needs. “We are really
adaptive, looking at community
trends, and helping people where
they are. I’m part of the Marvin I.
Danto Small Business Loan
Program review team, and I truly
enjoy watching the entrepreneurial
spirit flourish, and helping people
live their dreams. We really are
looking out for one another.
“I want people to know what a
caring, empathetic, positive agency
HFL truly is. And you know, there’s
also a rebound for me. I enjoy helping
others, and the experience has a
profound positive effect on my life
as well.”

Community donations help HFL
give interest-free loans to local Jews
for a variety of personal, health,
educational and small business
needs.

